Deputy Cleared Of Negligence In Man`s Death

A Circuit Court jury on Tuesday decided that no negligence was involved when a Broward Sheriff`s Office deputy killed a man during a raid on the man`s home.

Deputy Joseph Hoffman shot Herbert Harris III, 47, in the back during a SWAT team raid on Harris` home near Pompano Beach in November 1985. The deputy had ordered Harris to freeze, then fired his shotgun at him when Harris fled. Harris, who was unarmed, died in his kitchen.

Harris` widow, Janice, sued Hoffman and Sheriff Nick Navarro, claiming that the deputy acted negligently in shooting her husband, and that the Sheriff`s Office was negligent in hiring Hoffman.

She also sued for violation of her husband`s constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure.

The jury rejected all the claims.

The SWAT team was called to the Harris home to help deputies serve a search warrant. They suspected he was selling cocaine from his house.

Seven weeks earlier, deputies had searched the home and found several loaded weapons and cocaine.

Janice Harris` lawyer, Robert Kelley, said evidence showed that Herbert Harris was shot from a distance of three to five feet. That figure was disputed by Bruce Jolly, the lawyer for Hoffman and Navarro.

``You wouldn`t shoot Adolph Hitler in the back, or Manuel Noriega in the back from that distance, because we`re a civilized society,`` Kelley told jurors in closing arguments.

``We do have a problem with drugs in society, but the way to solve it is not to shoot someone in the back,`` he said.

Jolly argued that Herbert Harris, who had ingested a potentially lethal amount of cocaine, caused his own death when he did not stop as ordered.

``A police officer doesn`t have to wait to be shot at ... to use force,`` Jolly said. ``Ultimately, it was (Harris`) action, his behavior, that precipitated this incident.``

The attorney scoffed at the image of Janice Harris and her sons suffering an irreparable loss when Herbert Harris was killed.

``Herbert Harris was not a great husband, with all due respect,`` Jolly said. ``He was out in the (back yard) shed with the boys doing coke when he wasn`t selling it.``